Social Case study analysis

She cannot clearly communicate and gets tired easily and as such has been transferred to a brain management and end of life care. Sun Yi is also originally from Hong Kong China but has been able to acquire permanent residence in Australia where she currently lives. She also has a 2-year-old son David who was born in Australia whom she has solely taken care of since birth. Sun Yi’s relationship with David’s father soured after he got abusive towards her. They have since separated and he (David’s father) has not seen his son since their separation. Involving Sun Yi’s sister may also not be ethically ideal since she barely visited Sun Yi in the hospital and has also not been easy to contact hence may not be well aware of the situation.

Sun Yi despite her deteriorating health status may be the one mandated to decide as she's still alive and her inability to effectively communicate may not mean she can't communicate at all. It may hence be wise to involve all stakeholders, in this case, the hospital and Sun Yi to determine whether she can make the decision as she is of sound mind and this may raise questions as regards to her human rights. Legal issues may also arise where David's citizenship is concerned before any decision regarding relocating back to Hong Kong is concerned. Parties Involved The individuals, groups, and organizations that may be involved if and when any ethical decisions are made would be; Sun Yi, The Social worker, The Hospital, Sun Yi’s sister, David, David’s father and David’s grandmother.

They, therefore, advocate on behalf of individuals who are in need of services and to ensure that important public policy issues related to health care are addressed. As such ethical issues in healthcare settings present social workers with complex challenges and dilemmas with Sun Yi’s case not being any different. According to Reamer model (1995) social workers are routinely confronted with ethical dilemmas in their daily activities. This is because there are some complicated situations that may require decisions but may end up involving conflicts between human rights, values and laws. This approach requires that some situations require legitimate rights for ourselves and others as well as our duties and obligations. One may assume he has no role to play only to turn out to be a legal battle later.

Legislation   Laws and agency policies are often involved in complex cases, and social workers are often legally obligated to take a particular course of action. Standard 1. 07j of the Code of Ethics (NASW, 1996) recognizes that legal obligations may require social workers to share confidential information. NASW Code of Ethics acknowledges social workers' obligation to follow legal requirements and to intervene to protect the vulnerable. Social workers have always faced legal and ethical choices in their work with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations (Dickson 1995 and Madden 2003). Statutory laws for example and as applicable to this case prescribe social workers’ obligation when they suspect child abuse or neglect. As thus, social workers’ decisions are required to be both ethical and legal. The social worker in Sun Yi’s case is faced with the task of potentially exposing her medical condition to David's father most probably against her will as he may be an interested party in David's foster care.

The Hospital and Sun Yi must, therefore, be first informed before any such action is undertaken. This will also mean involving the employer, in this case, the hospital in order to be as professional as possible. The second code is Priority of client’s interests. The article in 5. 1c states that Social workers will seek to safeguard the rights, interests, and safety of clients who have limited or impaired decision-making capacity when acting on their behalf, or when another person, whether legally authorized or not, is acting for the client (Maine et. Al 2011). The reason I chose the organizational framework of Plan Australia is because it commits responsibilities to social workers to ensure that children are free from abuse and exploitation.

The staff in a hospital setting take all the possible steps in Employee code of conduct:- Given Sun Yi’s medical situation it would be extremely important that the social worker approaches his son’s issue with caution as any bad decisions would more likely deteriorate her health hence avoidance of recklessness is vitally important. It is also important she gets the right information when searching for her consent on the matter. Her difficulty in communication may even mean the social worker acts as her advocate hence the need to make the decisions that would reflect her own if she had the abilities to make one. Courses of Action and Viable Decisions. Potential Risks and Disadvantages The risk with the first option of seeking communication with Sun Yi is she might totally not be able to talk hence her vital opinion on the matter hence her wishes may be compromised if the decision was to be made by someone else in the case the social worker.

Although the social worker’s decision would be one that best represents Sun Yi’s wishes, it would be hard to know if in the end if it’s what she really wanted to happen to her son David. Bringing all concerned parties may mean creating conflict as it is not a guarantee they may all agree with each other. It may also mean Sun Yi's consent is not sought and that would not be fair to the client. Potential conflicts between the Social Worker’s personal and professional values and Organization’s requirements and responsibilities. "Statutory social workers: Stress, job satisfaction, coping, social support and individual differences. " British Journal of Social Work 38. Dubos, Rene.  Social capital: Theory and research. Routledge, 2017.